Billionaire investor Warren Buffett made a whopping $37 million a day this year, according to a report by the wealth research firm Wealth-X. His net worth increased by $12.7 billion to $59.1 billion in 2013, compared to $46.4 billion at the beginning of this year. Calculations show that it equals $1.5 million an hour. Despite that, Warren Buffett is not the richest man on Wealth-X’s list of top 10.
Must see- New Documentary With Exclusive footage ‘Mr Buffett the Teacher (2013)’
The wealth of Bill Gates, a close friend of Warren Buffett, shot up $11.5 billion in 2013, making him the second-biggest gainer. His net worth increased from $61.1 billion in January 2013 to $72.6 billion today. Gates is also the richest man on the list. Casino king Sheldon Adelson occupied the third spot as his wealth increased by $11.4 billion this year to $35.3 billion. Adelson owns various casinos in Las Vegas, Singapore and Macau.
Top 10 billionaires gain $101.8 billion this year
Jeff Bezos, the visionary chief executive of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), saw his paper wealth increase by $11.3 billion to $34.4 billion. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw his net worth swell by $10.5 billion in 2013 to $24.7 billion. Softbank Corp (OTCMKTS:SFTBF) (TYO:9984) chief Masayoshi Son raked in $10.3 billion this year, increasing his wealth $19.1 billion. He was followed by Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who each increased their wealth by $9.3 billion as Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares surpassed the $1,000 level.
Hong Kong-based Lui Chee Woo saw $8.3 billion of gains in his net worth. Woo owns casino chain Galaxy Entertainment and real estate firm K. Wah International. Carl Icahn occupied the 10th spot as his wealth rose by $7.2 billion in 2013 to $22.1 billion. Icahn took a highly profitable position in Herbalife Ltd. this year.
According to the study, the collective net worth of these ten individuals increased by $101.8 billion in 2013. That works out to an average of $10.2 billion each. As of December 2013, their combined net wroth is $347 billion, up from $245 billion at the beginning of this year. Though Warren Buffett gained the most, they earned an average of $29 million a day this year. Moreover, their net worth increased by 41.6%, beating the 24% YTD gain in the S&P 500 Index.